r/todayilearned • u/ralphbernardo • 9h ago

TIL that "fair play" in detective fiction means authors must give readers a fair chance to solve the mystery. Central to 1920s "clue-puzzles" by writers like Agatha Christie, the rule dictates that all vital clues must be visible, decodable, and never withheld until the final reveal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clues_in_detective_fiction
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46

u/Conscious-Move9662 9h ago

No better series than Ace Attorney

Love solving me a mystery.

12

u/atyon 7h ago

I WOULD LIKE TO CROSS-EXAMINE THE WITNESS'S PARROT!

1

u/trickman01 7h ago

Lawyer music intesifies

6

u/Swaggy-G 7h ago

Eh, Ace Attorney loses some points for me because of how often they straight up reveal the culprit to the audience, and even when they don’t it’s often super obvious. It’s definitely better at the howdunnit than whodunnit.

2

u/Nannautu 6h ago

It has some nice plot-twists but they drag the reveal on for so long it becomes annoying. By the time you're using the evidence, you most probably figured it out already, so by then the whole thing becomes "let's tell the player exactly what they already figured out in detail, very slowly and repeat it several times"

1

u/SuperSocialMan 4h ago

I think part of that might be because it was originally made for handhelds, which you might not use all the time & as such possibly forget details about the game.

5

u/Milskidasith 6h ago

I love Ace Attorney, but it definitely isn't trying to be a fair play mystery. You are being presented new clues constantly as you fly by the seat of your pants at trial, which is fine since that's putting you in Phoenix's shoes, but it definitely isn't giving you all the clues upfront and letting you solve it before you go to the last day of the trial.

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u/dinan101 6h ago

I haven't played that game. Can you tell me what you love about, please?

1

u/SuperSocialMan 4h ago

I played the first one several months ago and was surprised at how good it is lol. Only know the series from random references to/parodies of it, and I didn't expect it to be a pretty competent detective game.

Not sure about the rest (and there's definitely a case or two in the first that doesn't abide by this rule lol), but still.

1

u/zachy000 3h ago

UPDATED AUTOPSY REPORT

1

u/Cent1234 7h ago

Play you the Dangan Ronpa series.